Brief presentation on dubstep for middle schoolers

1. Dubstep
History, Elements, and
Instrumentation

2. Instrumentation
• Drum machines
• Drums and percussion
• Synthesizers
• Samplers
• Grimy, distorted vocal samples,
and/or clean, ethereal female
vocals

3. Rhythms and Tempo
• Usual tempo of 140 bpm
• Rhythms usually syncopated
• Incorporates tuplets; usually w/a
clap or snare inserted every third
beat in the bar

4. Harmony
• In early stages, used a percussive
sound (influences from Drum ‘n
Bass
• Used 2-step drum patterns
• Use of minor key and tritone
harmonies

5. Bass
• Omnipresent sub-bass
• The main feature of dubstep is the use of a wobble bass:
• The wobble bass is an extended bass note that has been
manipulated rhythmically using an LFO (Low Frequency
Oscillator), Filter cutoff and much distortion.
• The structure of Dubstep tracks incorporate one or more
“bass drops”, a characteristic inherited from drum and
bass. Typically, the percussion will pause, often reducing
the track to silence, and then resume with more
intensity, accompanied by a dominant subbass.

6. Technology and
Production
• Computer-based sequencers to create the music
• Cheaper technology makes music production more
accessible
• Use of a wide variety of effects including: reverb,
delay, distortion, chorus, side-chain compression,
vocoders.
• Dirty/grimy production quality, not clean at all
(especially in the drops)

7. History
• Earliest releases in 1998
• Instrumental dub remixes of 2-step
garage tracks
• Elements of breakbeat
• Dark elements of drum and bass in
2-step

8. London and Plastic People
• New “dark garage music”
showcased at London’s Plastic
People
• Forward night influential in
development of dubstep
• “Dubstep” coined by labels such as
Big Apple, Ammunition, and Tempa
(2002)

9. Growth of Dubstep
• Radio BBC 1 - DJ John Peel (2003) -
listeners voted Distance, Digital
Mystikz and Plastician (formerly
Plasticman) in their top 50 for the
year
• DJ Mary Anne Hobbs devoted show
to Dubstep in 2006 (Dubstep Warz)

10. Media and Dubstep
• Websites dedicated to Dubstep -
Barefiles (downloads) and
gutterbreakz (blog)
• Music magazine features in the
Wire
• Regular feature in Pitchfork Media
(online publication)

11. Growth outside the UK
• Dubstep influence in work of pop
artists
• Fusion genres - created more
experimental and slower dubstep
• Electro-house and heavy metal
influenced brostep